2. After all that, do you feel well enough to read on? Note the ways that illnesses can be spoken of and reported in the text below. Examination Fever

For most of the year, most of us had been allergic to work; apparently there had been a history of such allergies in the school.

Throughout the spring there had been quite a few cases of ‘Exams are stupid’, which proved highly contagious among friends.

Then in late May, one or two of us suffered a mild attack of ‘Gosh, is it really next month?’ and we seemed to give that to the others rather rapidly. You could tell how it was spreading from improved attendance at lessons.

An even more serious outbreak was that of the very infectious ‘I don’t know a thing’ two weeks before. At about the same time everyone seemed to catch “You’re no good!’ from the teachers. Then there was a bout of ‘I don’t really care’ followed by a few chronic cases of ‘My parents will kill me’. This again proved very catching; half the class was down with it in the week leading up to the exam itself, and it had reached epidemic proportions by the Friday before.

By this time, those who had been suffering from ‘It’ll be easy for me’ had made a total recovery.

That Friday there was a ‘What if I’m suffering from amnesia?’ scare, and this had developed by Monday into a touch of ‘I can’t even remember my own name’.

There were also, of course, the normal isolated cases of ‘My pen doesn’t work’ and several pupils had a sudden fit of ‘Where’s the toilet?’

Afterwards there were a couple of complaints of ‘I know I’ve failed’, but generally the worst seemed to be over. Such diseases are rarely terminal. And after all, we had a convalescence and recuperation period of six and a half weeks to follow.

3. Here, on this rather unpleasant page, are some of the best-known and least-wanted diseases and conditions, arranged according to where they strike or what causes them. However, in each group there is one that should not be there. Can you identify it?

The heart and blood vessels poor circulation high blood pressure a stroke heart attack jaundice cardiac arrest heart failure	The liver gallstones cirrhosis of the liver hepatitis cancer of the liver coronary thrombosis
The stomach and intestines appendicitis stomach ulcer polio a hernia constipation	The blood anaemia pneumonia leukaemia a haemorrhage a blood clot
Infectious fevers measles chickenpox German measles (rubella) smallpox pleurisy glandular fever yellow fever scarlet fever whooping cough influenza leprosy malaria	Food poisoning typhoid dysentery diarrhoea and vomiting salmonella mumps
	The joints rheumatism enteritis arthritis fibrositis
The lungs and respiratory system diphtheria catarrh sinusitis tonsilitis laryngitis asthma angina cholera bronchitis tuberculosis (TB) lung cancer	The nervous system migraine epilepsy (epileptic fits) Parkinson’s disease multiple sclerosis muscular dystrophy
	Mental disorders schizophrenia manic depression neurosis paranoia